?Dem Bones? a comedy song last century went ?the foot bone?s connected to the leg bone? etc and so on up the skeleton. Funny (to some) but it?s all true. If you have a problem with your foot it will affect form and function in the adjacent calf group and the other muscles and joints further up the kinetic chain. You need to understand how the calf muscles operate, how a foot dysfunction might affect them and how you should train in function, to avoid acute injury, deal with chronic conditions and enhance performance.
Understanding how the calf group operates is described here by Gray Institute for Applied Functional Science. ?There are 12 muscles in the lower leg all doing something. We need to distinguish here between anatomical and functional descriptions.
Anatomical is where the muscles are, what bones they attach to, what joints they cross and what motion they create.
Functional is all of the above as well as their synergistic roles in function.?
The calf group is housed in four compartments in the leg; one at the front, the anterior, two at the back, the superficial posterior and the deep posterior and one on the outside, the lateral compartment.
An anatomical view of the movement of the foot at the ankle would be, ?The posterior compartment muscles create plantarflexion (down) of the foot at the ankle joint, while the anterior compartment muscles create dorsiflexion (up) at the same point.?
A functional view would be ?that in gait both sets of muscles would shorten to accelerate planterflexion and lengthen to decelerate dorsiflexion.?
If this is what the calf group do in function what does it mean for your training.
The Gray Institute say ?If all of these groups of muscles in the lower limb act synergistically to facilitate gait or any other function and they act in all three planes, why do we insist on static stretching of the so called calf group in the sagital plane only (forwards/backwards), surely this will leave the same or other muscles operating in the other two planes unstretched and liable to damage. They describe Tennis Leg as an example of this ?The common tear is on the medial head of the gastroc which sounds like transverse plane pressure.?
You might see walking or running as a sagital plane action (forwards/backwards) but look carefully and you will see significant rotation (transverse) and side to side (frontal) movement in both the lower leg and foot.
As your heel strikes the ground your calf group is working synergystically in all three planes to decelerate these motions to control the affects of gravity and your mass and momentum, all of which are forcing you into the ground. Your ankle acts as a torque converter for these forces allowing your foot to roll over (evert in frontal/pronate in transverse) to stabilise you (mobile adaptor).
Having lengthened in deceleration the calf group now shortens to accelerate you upwards and forwards from the ground. The foot as part of a rigid lever again (inverts in frontal and supinates in transverse plane) with the ankle converting these forces to allow external rotation of the lower leg (transverse), to facilitate movement forwards.
This lengthy description should help you to understand that in perfect form and function, the calf group is operating in all three planes of motion, working with the forces of gravity, ground reaction, mass and momentum. The calf group act synergistically with the other muscles and joints in the lower leg and foot to control these forces to achieve motion. (I will deal with the roles of muscles and joints further up the chain in future posts)
If you have an anatomical deformity or dysfunction, like my splayed right foot, our cleverly designed bodies will look for ways to compensate for any restriction in the range of motion you want to achieve in function. These compensatory actions will protect the problem areas, but over time are likely to cause damage elsewhere in the chain. My splayed right foot affected my ability to load and unload at the ankle (dorsiflexion) efficiently, putting more pressure on other parts of the chain as I tried to execute a forehand. My knees took the pressure and have been sore and stiff for more than ten years and I suffered a number of calf muscle and hamstring strains and tears as well in that time. Achilles pain last year was almost the straw that broke the camel?s back.
I now know that my splayed right foot was the cause and all of the above were the symptoms. I have spent a lot of time and money addressing the symptoms which at times provided temporary relief but no lasting solution.
Physio, usually in one plane (sagital) and rarely in upright function has been of limited value for me.
Pilates is great for feeling good after stretching and breathing but is of questionable value in developing enough strength and flexibility in function.
Gym machines that isolate and work individual muscles ignore the truth that muscles and joints have synergistic roles in function.
I could go on describing every instant cure for muscle and joint problems from green lipped muscles to invasive surgery but the truth is simple and it?s freely available (after initial professional diagnosis and treatment). It?s about your understanding of what you need to do to improve your form in function, what you can do for yourself and not what others will do to you for a price.
Before you start a calf muscle stretching routine ask yourself am I preparing them for what I now know they do in function and has my failure to prepare them correctly, in the past, been responsible for recurrent problems either in the calf group or elsewhere. Have you been wasting time and money and worse still foregoing form in function you could still enjoy.
I played a vets mixed doubles match yesterday and our team lost as they were much better than us. Both of their men (just fifty) complained during and after of muscle and joint pain and were surprisingly accepting of their conditions. One said he understood the problem with his right calf and knew how to manage it and the other said he had started pilates. When asked, he wasn?t sure what pilates did for him but the women who went to his class were hot. This may be a good enough reason for you providing you are fit for function. I did wonder, however, why they showed no interest in looking for solutions that worked.
Applied Functional Science routines and the functional tool I use have helped me regain form in function at the start of my sixth decade. My right foot is still slightly splayed out and I have some damage in both knee and hip joints, but now have the strength and flexibility for the movement and range of motion in function, that I used to enjoy in my 30s and 40s.
Thanks for reading this leave a comment and look out for my next post Improving Form in Function: The Knees
Vaughan Ebrahim
Licensed LTA Senior Club Coach
GI Foundation in Applied Functional Science
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